While I appreciate the themes posed in the first half about assimilation and the struggles of connecting with a culture you're both from but not connected to at all, It Lives Inside decides to squander this deep and interesting angle in favour of the most cookie cutter horror tropes and scares imaginable. Unable to fully throw its punches due to a very restrictive PG-13 rating, It Lives Inside drops back to a level of mediocrity which is almost insulting given the promise it sets out the gate. I think they really could have had something special here, a monster from a seldom represented culture in the horror space, with an underlying message about the pressures of first generation immigrants in their respective new homeland, attempting to both adhere to the expectations of the place they're growing up, while also trying to connect with the culture and customs of their parents. A shame really, sometimes knowing that something could have been great is worse than it just being bad, and I truly think It Lives Inside could have been special.

Lame entity, unscary, surface level culture themes, half-baked Indian folklore, horror tropes by the bucket and the story is uninteresting. It still manages to have a few moments of glory with the tension and a few scares. It looks good and the acting is pretty decent. The PG-13 rating seems to have been it's worst enemy, it's like it doesn't know when to kill a character off which is so frustrating. The stakes are low because of this. Also, it always breaks tension filled scenes with either a flashback or we visit another character meanwhile. ***It Lives Inside*** had it's moments but overall this was disappointing and generic.

Evidently continuing my trend of religious horror this week, this new movie is fascinating in that it’s religious horror that is, for once, NOT based on Catholicism. I don’t want to say too much, because it does a nice job of slowly revealing the basis for what’s going on to those unfamiliar with Hinduism, but it all also circulates around a strong theme of assimilation versus cultural identity.

Like a sari made in China, it's Indian but not very original. Sari not sari.

It seems Indian mythology remains a rich, untapped playground for imaginative horror, so why does this movie content itself with an over-indulgence on dream sequences and extreme close-ups?

Well worth the price of admission! Happy to give it an eight out of 10. Great performance, great story, and a very unique creature.

It was an ok movie. The demon was kind of cool and some of the kills were good but that was about all it had going for it.

Absolutely meh. Waste of time, really. I gotta stop picking movies from Polygon's "this weekend" list.

Demons have no taste, turning down a tasty looking spread like that.

I REALLY wanted to like this one, but it was aggressively mid for me. It felt like a very boiler plate demon movie but it had a good creature design and a thoughtful metaphor for the conflict between traditional culture and the pressure to assimilate.

Reminded me more of Under the Shadow, or even Drag Me to Hell, in that it was a fun way to teach people about demons from cultures underrepresented in Western media.

Really bummed out because I am always rooting for horror movies that aren’t part of a franchise with diverse casts/cultural backgrounds.

"It Lives Inside" is a horror film that tantalizingly flirts with the potential to break the mold but ultimately succumbs to genre tropes. The movie's cultural relevance shines as it delves into Hindu and Buddhist folklore, introducing an authentic and seldom-explored demon. This narrative choice has the potential to resonate beyond its roots, reminding us that beneath diverse cultures, we share common human experiences. Moreover, the film cleverly employs the demonic entity as a metaphor for the darkness within ourselves, mirroring the struggle against depression and inner turmoil, a poignant theme that adds depth to the story.

However, despite these promising elements, the film is weighed down by a narrative that feels all too familiar, contributing to a sense of unoriginality. Furthermore, the creature design, while practical, falls short of inspiring fear and borders on the comical. "It Lives Inside" possesses moments of brilliance, particularly in its cultural and metaphorical aspects, but they are overshadowed by a lackluster, formulaic horror narrative. It's a film that has its merits but doesn't fully live up to its potential.